Children under age 19 without health insurance in Maine
Why This Indicator Matters
For more information see: Urban Institute- Why Having Health Insurance Is Important
What the data shows
For 2018, the counties varied between 4.6% of children being uninsured to 9.1%, with the counties of Washington, Lincoln, and Aroostook having the highest rate of uninsured children. Cumberland, York and Androscoggin had the lowest rates.
For the state as a whole, the rate of uninsured increased 13% between 2017 and 2018. The percent uninsured for all of Maine for children ages 0 -18 was 5.7% in 2018, up from 4.9% in 2017.
Definitions:
Children under age 19 who were not covered by health insurance at any point during the year.
The numerator is children ages 0 - 18 who did not have health insurance at some point in time and the denominator is all children ages 0 - 18.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE) program produces timely estimates for all counties and states by detailed demographic and income groups. The SAHIE program produces single-year estimates of health insurance coverage for every county in the U.S. The estimates are model-based and consistent with the American Community Survey (ACS). They are based on an "area-level" model that uses survey estimates for domains of interest, rather than individual responses. The estimates are "enhanced" with administrative data, within a Hierarchical Bayesian framework.
Data Source:
Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE) for counties and states
The SAHIE program models health insurance coverage by combining survey data from several sources, including:
The American Community Survey (ACS)
Demographic population estimates
Aggregated federal tax returns
Participation records for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp program
County Business Patterns
Medicaid
Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) participation records
Footnotes: Updated April 2020.